§ 26. Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the review of NHS spending.
§ Mr. SackvilleMy right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary announced the review to the House on 8 February at column681. The aim of this review, as with those being conducted across the other major spending programmes, is to distinguish essential costs of high priority spending, which the Government will continue to fund, from avoidable spending which they cannot afford. The review of health spending aims to ensure that taxpayers' money spent on the national health service is used as efficiently as possible for the benefit of patients, within the context of the Government's commitments to continue to offer national health service care on the basis of need, not ability to pay; to increase year by year the level of real resources committed to the national health service; and to plough back savings generated by greater efficiency.